Nothing But Gravity
by Artemis Day
Summary: Loki didn't expect Thor to be banished, and he didn't expect the woman who found him to be so interesting. Lokane.
1. Serendipity

**So these are my Lokane Week 2019 entries... which I am still not done with... but better late than never, right?**

**Anyway, all my entries will be vignettes existing within the same AU. New chapters will be up either every day or every other day depending on how busy I am. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Thor's banishment was… unexpected.**  
**

Not necessarily a problem- Valhalla knows the fool needed a good kick off his pedestal- but still far from the outcome Loki hoped for.

A bit of fun, he'd call it. Just another prank, albeit one that led to bloodshed. That was regrettable, and he'd sent his personal condolences to the families of the dead guards (not even Thor would've done so much).

But now Thor was gone. Powerless. Trapped on Midgard at the mercy of mortals. Loki didn't have to spy, but he couldn't help himself. He skulked in the shadows, invisible to all, as Thor stumbled and screamed for the gatekeeper.

A man and two women had found him. One of them was already smitten. Loki didn't know what CPR was, but that lusty smile was telling.

The second was equally entranced, utterly fascinated and consumed… by the Bifrost's markings. She sat on her haunches, almost but not quite touching the sand, babbling figures to her companions.

The man pointed out Thor.

Her response? "He's fine. Look at him."

Perfectly dismissive. He was barely a grain of sand in her eyes.

The next day, Loki strolled down the streets of Thor's new desert home. That woman, Jane Foster, had left him in the capable hands of Midgardian healers. Loki looked in on him and he was fine, sleeping peacefully following a failed escape attempt. Jane, meanwhile, power walked back to her lab with a plastic bag full of whatever passed as food in this realm. It smelled like burning meat and cheese. Not appetizing in the slightest.

"Excuse me," he said, appearing to her as merely another human going about his day, "do you live here?"

"For now," she said, swinging the bag back and forth. "Hopefully for the foreseeable future. Can I help you?"

"I certainly hope so. I've just arrived in this town and I'm afraid I don't know where anything is. Are there any points of interest I should look for?"

Jane snorted. "Points of interest? In Puente Antiguo? Anything I could show you is happening a few hundred miles that way."

She pointed at the sky and Midgard's single burning sun. Loki didn't look up.

"Hmmm… I see. Are you studying the stars, then?"

The question startled her out of leaving. She'd been inching away from him and a polite excuse was on her tongue, but now she was firmly locked in place. "How'd you know that?"

Loki raised his hands submissively. "Forgive me if I've spoken out of turn, but I heard there was a scientist in town tracking cosmic disruptions."

"Finding proof of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge," she said automatically. How many times had she made that same correction? "I mean, yes, that's me. I'm Jane Foster."

"Luke," he lied. After meeting Thor, Loki might be a bit much. "An honor to meet you, Dr. Foster. I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions?"

She eyed him one more time, arms folded. "Yeah, okay."

They walked down the road to her lab, chatting all the while about her research, where she'd gotten her ideas, how she ended up so far outside traditional academia. Loki listened intently, asking all the right questions for a curious novice, and also a few of his own. Her ideas were fascinating, if rudimentary by Asgardian standards. A trip to the grand library might've been truly stimulating for her.

"And here's my base of operations." They were outside an oval-shaped building made of windows, ramshackle tech littering the tables and floors. A whiteboard covered in photos was next to the door It was the first thing Loki spotted as they walked inside.

"Are you alone?"

"My intern is on her break and my colleague is at the library," she explained. "They'll be back soon if you want to meet them."

"That would be wonderful," Loki smiled. "Thank you again for indulging me, Doctor. I hope I haven't troubled you."

"Oh no," she said with a slight blush. Next, he should kiss her hand. "No, no. Not at all. It's nice having someone else to talk to. Erik's great, but Darcy doesn't really get it, and most of the town thinks I'm from Area 51."

"What a shame," Loki said. He glanced at a disorganized stack of photos which didn't appear to have been looked through. At the top is a shot of the Bifrost, to mortal eyes just a swirl of smoke and color. A shadow in the center of the image gave him pause. "Have you… found anything yet?"

Her whole face brightened. "Oh man, like you wouldn't believe."

She then launched into a tirade about yesterday's storm and the markings in the dirt. Loki nodded along like he had no part in making it happen. She left out the bit about hitting Thor with her vehicle, which was a shame. That was his favorite.

"You believe this was an Einstein-Rosen Bridge," he said.

"Of course," she said. "An anomaly of that magnitude can't be anything else. I would've gotten better footage, but someone got hurt during the event and we had to take him to the hospital."

"Oh dear," Loki gasped. "Was he all right?"

"Oh yeah, he was great," Jane said, biting her lip. "I may have had… something to do with him getting hurt. Anyway, I'm heading back out there tonight after I go through all the new data. With any luck, nothing out there has changed since last night."

Loki hummed. While she checked her monitor and typed in commands, he made a show of studying the photos, scanning each one too fast to take anything in. At least with mortal eyes.

_'Such an interesting woman,'_ he mused as she whipped another notebook out of nowhere and filled an entire page in under a minute. _'Perhaps all she needs is a push in the right direction.'_

And what Thor needed was to learn a lesson. The All-Father never acted without purpose, and if his wish was for Thor to be humbled as a simple human, then it was Loki's wish, too. His brother has been idolized for long enough, and as Loki removed his silhouette from Jane's photos, leaving the true object of her desires intact, he knew it was the best thing for everyone.

Of course, he would retrieve Thor from the healers eventually. In a few months perhaps; a year at the most. That should be long enough to teach him the virtue of humility. Odin and Frigga could rest easy. Their firstborn was safe under the second's careful watch.

"I'd be happy to accompany you," he said, adding a shrug for good measure. "If you needed an extra pair of hands, that is."

"I think the fewer hands, the better," she said, smiling, "but if you really want to, you can wait in the van."

He'd accept that, for now.

Jane Foster could rest easy, too.


	2. Synergy

In the morning, Loki brought her a cup of coffee. She was always awake before he got there, dressed and ready to go. The whiteboard was the center of her universe. Photos taped in all four corners provided no more hints today than they had yesterday. A new equation was scribbled out in green ink, to be erased within the hour like all ten that came before it.

"Good morning," he said. "Thirsty?"

She took the cup and drank it down. "I've been up all night."

"I can tell."

"It doesn't make any sense."

"It never does."

"_Twelve_ anomalies, Luke!" Jane shoved a wad of papers at him which may or may not have had relevant information on them. "Twelve! And then this out of nowhere storm that burns archaic runes into the ground. That _means something_."

She stormed around her lab, checking data feeds and weather updates at random. Notebooks hit the floor as she swiped her arm across the table, giving herself optimal space for a fresh roll of blueprint paper. She sketched a pair of intersecting lines, scribbling numbers on the margins. Her tongue stuck out, her brow furrowed. She erased the lines and redrew them parallel to each other.

"Dammit!" She threw the paper aside. "None of this is right. I can barely think straight!"

"Sleep might help." Loki nudged a pad of paper aside with his foot.

"I don't have time for that!" Her scream shocked Darcy, minding her own business on the couch, out of a daze. "This situation is time sensitive and I've already wasted hours doing nothing."

"If I could disagree," Darcy piped up, "you've been doing a lot of things. So many things that I'm honestly kind of scared of you."

Jane tried to glare but lacked the energy. Her body pitched forward, her head falling on the metal table with an unnerving thump. Loki stepped closer, not really caring if she hurt herself but hoping he wouldn't have to clean up the mess. She was still breathing and mumbling to herself. Something about atmospheric pressure at the crash site and people in suits.

"The government is about to take over the site," she said dully.

Darcy almost dropped her phone. "You saw _Feds_ out there?"

"I don't know what division they're from, but they had black vans and this guy in a suit was on the side of the road staring at me as I drove off."

"Yeesh. That sounds vague and slightly menacing."

Loki rubbed his chin, staring out at the far off desert. His vision traveled farther than mortal eyes dared to dream. Mjolnir had become the site of grand festivities among the locals. Men tried their hands at lifting the mighty weapon. One fellow destroyed his truck in the attempt. Loki might've taken a bit too much pleasure in their failure, but that was inconsequential.

Already, the 'Feds' were preparing to take over They carried machinery similar to Jane's, if larger and cleaner. A man in sunglasses watched from a distance. He was on the phone, giving reports to his superior. Loki ignored him for the moment but committed his face to memory.

"You fear they'll stop you," he said, pulling up a chair.

"I don't fear anything," Jane said. "I hope they won't get in my way, but since that's basically how the government functions, I'm not holding my breath."

"It's not the end, though. You have evidence."

"I have grainy pictures of a rune circle that's now covered in sand."

"It's more than they have." He would've loved to see what kind of conclusions Midgard's greatest minds would come to regarding Mjolnir. They were sure to be quite amusing.

Jane put her head in her hands and sighed. "It's not that I'm not giving up. I've come too far and put too many years into this, but…"

Loki nodded as his arm moved. He froze an inch from her naked wrist. Whatever he'd been about to do, he couldn't say. "I understand. It is frustrating to meet resistance even when the path is clear."

She raised her eyes. "I was gonna say things are royally fucked, but that's much more eloquent."

Loki chuckled. "Then you know this is not the end. If you cannot overcome an obstacle, you must find a way around it."

"That way might involve sneaking onto an active military base," said Jane.

"Let's be honest, you'd totally do it," Darcy shouted from the kitchen. It was only five feet away but this was a woman who needed to make herself heard.

"Thank you, Darcy," Jane ground her teeth. "But you're right, I'm not finished yet. I have all my notes and photos from the storm and that pattern was way too precise to be random."

"And it is yours and yours alone," Loki said, sliding the clearest photo of the Bifrost's mark into her line of sight. "Some call science an art. I'd call this a mystery. Are you the one to solve it?"

The barest touch of Jane's finger left a white imprint on the glossy paper. She held it to the light, her bottom lip between her teeth. Loki stared a few seconds longer than necessary. Close to a full minute. Energy radiated off her, seeping into his skin and coursing through his blood.

"They won't stop me," she said.

"Never," he whispered.

"Do we have tension here? Because I feel like we have tension here." The double stare down tore Darcy's grin apart. "Yeah, okay, shutting up."


	3. Sonder

A week later, she finally asked him.

"So what brought you all the way out here?" They were at Izzy's diner during her thirty-minute breaks between twelve-hour shifts and she asked with a mouthful of pancakes.

Loki prided himself in always thinking ahead, and he had not forgotten this detail when crafting his human identity.

"I'm an analyst," he said. The foreign word slid off his tongue like second nature. "I'm to spend the next few weeks assessing the education level, crime rates, and general quality of living in Puente Antiguo."

Jane's cheeks bulged with half-chewed pretzel bites stuck in her frozen jaw. "_This_ Puente Antiguo?"

"I don't know where else."

Soggy crumbs gathered at her lips before she finally thought to swallow. "Sorry, just… well, it's not that I don't like it here, but this place is kind of far out of the way. I didn't think the state government would care enough to send a representative."

Loki smiled. "You must get used to surprises."

"And you must tell Izzy what you're doing here." She dipped her pancakes in a well of maple syrup. "We might get free coffee out of it."

The thirty minutes ended and Jane paid her bill. They walked into the burning sundown the street past an ice cream shop and the dying remains of what had once been a shoe store. 'Shoes' is the only word left on the splintered sign. Loki made a show of studying each store and the shoppers inside. If this was how proper analysts went about their job, he didn't know, but neither did Jane.

"Do you need to ask me any questions?"

"Hmm…" His eyes were caught on hair salon with a mysterious brown stain dripping down the wall. "What about?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. About the town and what it's like living here. We talk all the time about my work, but this is my first time hearing about yours."

Her face was so earnest, her eyes the deepest brown. They shone with curiosity usually reserved for mysterious constellations. It sent a pang through Loki's heart that he couldn't identify. Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

"I suppose," he said. "So you like it here?"

"Eh, can't complain," she said, clasping her hands behind her back. "It's boiling in the day, freezing at night, but at least we have a 7-11 and, of course, OK Furniture."

She pointed out the store two doors down. It was gray, box-shaped, and carried a faint odor of sawdust. The windows were caked in grime. The man at the register appeared to have mastered the art of sleeping standing up

Jane shook her head. "Sorry, I just love that they named it that."

"It does seem fitting."

They stopped at 7-11 for snacks. Jane's supply of kettle chips was low and Darcy would whine if she didn't get her daily chocolate fix. Loki followed her into a sea of gaudy colors. Red and orange candy wrappers; yellow and green chip bags; enough soda and water bottles to sate the thirst of an army. Multiple bags of 'Funyuns' were arranged on a display, selling at two for three dollars. The dried-out golden rings on the label did not scream 'fun' to Loki, so he decided against making a purchase.

He waited at the counter for Jane to finish. The cashier, a young woman with brown skin and long black hair, eyed him over her phone when she thought he wasn't looking. Loki glanced back once, smirking to himself as she immediately started reorganizing the half-off candy tray.

"They actually had sour cream and onion Ruffles today," Jane said, carrying two armfuls of processed treats to the register.

The cashier grinned. "Will Darcy be happy?"

"Absolutely ecstatic," Jane said. "How are you doing, Rosa? Looking forward to August?"

The girl, Rosa, blew out a puff of air. "Oh man, Jane, it's been crazy. I've been so stressed these last few months with moving and scholarship applications. My Abuelita's convinced I'm going to move to New York and never come back."

"I thought you were going to Yale."

"I am! I keep telling her it's in Connecticut, but she doesn't believe me. Now my dad's lecturing me about underage drinking and my brother keeps saying he's going to take my room when I'm gone-"

Jane nodded along and made sounds of sympathy as the girl bemoaned her misfortunes and Loki found a much more interesting flyer for one free Coke product with the purchase of three others. Two more customers had arrived in this time, a man and a woman. The man wore one of those hats, a cowboy hat as he now knew them to be called. He glanced at the beef jerky display, then fixed Loki with a suspicious stare.

"Never seen you 'round these parts, stranger," he said, which was slightly redundant in Loki's opinion.

"I am here to evaluate the standards and practices of this town and provide a detailed report of the living conditions therein."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You tearing this place down and building a shopping mall?"

"…no, I don't think so."

"Oh." He wandered down the chip aisle. "Shame…"

They left after Jane reassured Rosa that she'd do great in college and not to worry about her family. The whole process took an extra ten minutes and Loki considered 'taking his leave' without her several times. Back home in Asgard, the servants would be dying to know what their remaining prince did locked in his room all day. In their wildest dreams, they never could have guessed.

"Sorry that took so long," Jane said as she rushed to meet him with plastic bags in hand. "One nice thing about Puente Antiguo. Lots of people to talk to."

"So I've seen." Loki held the door for her. "And they have quite a lot to say."

"I'm surprised you're not used to it, working for the government and all."

Loki thought back to the last party he attended with Thor and their friends. His ears still rang with the roar of their drunken laughter. "I have… met such people."

She giggled, a much more pleasant sound by far. "Remind me to introduce you to Mrs. Martinez at the beauty salon. She's been here longer than anyone."

"That would be nice," he said, though if he were honest, there was only one mortal brain he cared to pick.


	4. Gravity Well

Thor was not at the hospital for long after Jane left him.**  
**

Not at _that_ hospital anyway.

This new one was smaller and quieter, at least during the day. At night, Thor's sleep was undisturbed by the shrieks and howls of his fellow patients. Some tossed and turned and punched the walls in anger, but the prince had learned long ago how to sleep through the worst cacophonies. If there wasn't a blade to his throat, Thor would dream on in peace.

He'd already regaled his new friends with tales of his youth. Successful campaigns in Alfheim; hunts through the dark forests of Nornheim; the time Fandral nearly lost his arm in a bligsnipe attack. Those who sat with him in a circle clung to his every word, while the man with the white coat and clipboard took detailed notes.

Eventually, Thor realized trying to escape would only end with him strapped to a bed. From then on, he was a model patient. He never spoke out of turn, offered to help the menial workers with their labor, and opened up to his doctor about how much he missed home. All he wanted was to see his father again. If he could just hug Mother one more time. If he could tell Loki how much he loved and respected him.

"My brother is truly the greatest mind in all of Asgard," he lamented during a one on one session.

"Is that so?" The doctor wrote on his board without looking up. He always did that and on Asgard, he would've been flogged for such disrespect.

Thor rubbed his tear-filled eyes. "I should've listened to him when he told me not to go to Jotunheim. I would give anything just to tell him how sorry I am."

Loki left. This was a private conversation he had no business intruding on. It was rude and invasive and not at all relevant to his interests. He winked out of Thor's room and into Puente Antiguo's tavern. It was nearly empty this time of day. No one saw him arrive. Jane Foster was at the bar nursing a beer, no doubt her first for the evening.

"Hey, Luke!" She waved him over. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you since yesterday."

"Working," he croaked. The bartender placed a Coors in front of him before he said a word. "I've been very busy."

"I thought that might be it." She sipped her drink and winced. "Sorry if I'm being nosy."

"No, I'm fine," Loki said. "Perfectly fine."

Jane nodded. "You sure? You seem a little out of it."

"Work can be stressful, as I'm sure you know." He downed the entire tasteless beer in under a minute.

Jane dropped her head on the bartop "God, don't even talk to me."

"I take it these Feds are giving you trouble again."

"I have no idea what the hell they're doing." Her forehead slid off the edge and she grabbed the empty seat beside her to keep from falling. "First they try to steal my research. No idea how that got stopped, but I've probably thanked every god I've ever heard of at this point."

_'Not all of them,'_ Loki thought with a twinge of pride.

"Now they've got their own secret club out there. I know they have something. _Something_ came here in that storm, and it's just my rotten luck they found it before I did."

"In fairness, they do outnumber you." Loki reached for her hand and stopped. It was hardly the first time his instincts had leaned towards physical comfort, but for the life of him, he didn't know where it was coming from.

"If that's you trying to say I did all I could, thanks, but the last thing I need right now is pity."

"I would never give it," he said. "Not to you. You're far too impressive for that."

Jane turned red to her ears. "I swear, I don't know if you're secretly a spy out for my research, trying to get me in bed, or both."

Loki smirked. "One of those things may be true."

"Maybe we should drink a little more." She raised her glass and they toasted.

"I hope you aren't doubting yourself again," he chided. "I'm not one to give compliments lightly and we've already been through this once."

"The only thing keeping me down is gravity." Jane ran her finger around the rim of her glass, her smile losing its luster. "My dad used to say that."

"He wasn't wrong."

Jane hummed and leaned back, eyes closed. "They're lucky I'm not some hotshot government operative, or I'd be the one blocking the site off. Maybe then I could've gotten my readings in peace. Oh, did I tell you what happened to that guy I found?"

Loki had to consciously work to maintain his loose posture. "Guy, you say?"

"Yeah, the drunk guy I hit with my van." She bit her lip as though she'd said too much. "I mean grazed… anyway, I called the hospital a few days ago and I found out he was telling that he's Thor, the god of thunder. You know, from Norse mythology."

"How strange." Loki stared at a crack on the wall.

"They transferred him to a psychiatric hospital in Santa Theresa. I want that to be the end of it, but it's so weird that some guy claiming to be a Norse god pops up at the same time a wormhole drops Norse-looking runes in the dirt. Almost like…"

Jane's mind worked the problem, creating and discarding a thousand ideas in the span of a second. Loki saw it all in her eyes. He didn't need magic to read her like a book. His bones ached from locking himself in position. He needed to move, but he couldn't. Not until Jane let out a moan and rubbed her temples.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I swear, I'm usually more rational than this."

"Don't apologize," Loki forced a smile. "As a scientist, you must explore every possibility."

"I think from now on I'll stick to the ones that make some semblance of sense."

She went to take another drink, then thought better of it and requested a check. As she spoke to the bartender, Loki gazed out the window. The desert was a fathomless sea of sand and rock, but if he looked closely, the white box building with Thor inside was a speck on the horizon. He could have gone back, and maybe he should've, but his body was heavy in his seat. Weighed down by gravity.


	5. Event Horizon

Asgard was lonely.**  
**

It never was before. Before, he'd have his mother to walk through the gardens with or his father to discuss a trade agreement over drinks. Thor might fancy a midnight trek through the forests to seek out fresh kill. Sif or Fandral might need a sparring partner. Now, the mighty king teetered on the verge of Odinsleep. His endurance was the price he paid for banishing his eldest. Sif petitioned to him constantly to bring Thor home, if not for Thor's sake than for his own. Frigga spent each day at his side, catching him when he almost fell and coaxing him to eat. She told Loki one night to prepare. If anything happened before Thor returned, the throne would fall to him. Every day the All-Father weakened, his ancient bones creaking. Every day, Loki's ascension seemed more inevitable.

And it felt… strange.

He couldn't say how.

He had yet to confront his parents about Jotunheim.

Distraction had become his nature. All he wanted to do after mandatory appearances in court was travel to New Mexico. The arid taste of sand on his tongue had become a welcome experience. Soda and Funyuns actually weren't that bad. Even Darcy Lewis was enjoyable in her own way.

Time on Midgard moved faster than on any other realm. It was nighttime when Loki entered the lab and found Erik Selvig at one of Jane's work desks.

"Good evening," he said.

The old man cast tired eyes upon him. This was Loki's third time meeting him and he'd never looked more his age. "Oh, you again."

A lack of sleep had robbed him of his filter. That was fine. For once, Loki preferred honesty. "I was hoping to speak to Jane. Is she available?"

"She doesn't want to be disturbed."

"So she's on the roof." Loki smiled innocently as Selvig glared at him. "Thank you, I will show myself the way."

He started for the door leading upstairs, his shoes thumping softly in near-complete silence.

"What do you want with her?"

Loki didn't stop. "I don't know what you mean."

Selvig stood, and to his credit, his anger might've intimidated a prepubescent boy. "You're always around. Always poking your nose in Jane's research. I thought you had your own job."

"I am not always working. And have you considered that I seek the answers to the universe just as Jane does?"

"Oh, I think you're seeking something," Selvig retorted, "and I think you should look somewhere else."

Loki clenched a fist. "With all due respect, I don't believe that's up to you. Jane will share with me whatever she pleases. I don't intend to stop her."

"It wouldn't be the first time she's trusted the wrong person."

They stared each other down, Loki seething behind a calm facade. He could kill the pathetic fool with a single look, but as the thought entered his mind, an unseen hand pushed it aside. A voice in his ear told him 'no'. First, it sounded like Thor. Then, like Jane.

"Have a good night, Dr. Selvig," Loki said on his way up the stairs.

He found Jane on a fold-out chair, blankets bunched around her knees. Her arm was tucked under her head, the only sort of pillow she had. It didn't look comfortable at all, but she sighed happily in her sleep as Loki pulled the sheets up to her chin and tucked her.

"Jane," he whispered.

Her eyes fluttered and closed. "That you Luke?"

"I'm sorry if I woke you."

"I wasn't sleeping." She yawned and tried to lift her head. Drowsiness still had a tight grasp on her and she only rolled on her back. "Just waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Something to happen. Something always happens."

Loki dragged another chair over and sat down. "It's calm tonight. I don't think there will be a storm."

"Last time was calm, too."

"This might be different."

Jane sighed and moved her hand across her face. Her hair was everywhere, the light brown hue almost gold in the twinkling starlight.

"You would think that," she mumbled, "and you're probably right. You're right about everything, aren't you?"

Loki started to smile. Selvig's disapproving eyes full of distrust wouldn't leave him. He couldn't even block out the man's footsteps downstairs.

"Sometimes I think you know more about my research than I do." Jane fell silent, and Loki thought she'd fallen back asleep until she let out a sigh. "But that can't be. I'm the one studying the anomaly. You're just a hobbyist. Right?"

"I… suppose you can call it that."

"But you know so much. So much more than you should, and then I think I shouldn't trust you. I should do what Erik says and cut you off. It's just… I _do_ trust you. I don't know why, but I do." Her words were slurring, her mind all but gone and unable to hold anything back. "I don't know… I might just like you too much… I like you a lot, Luke…"

Her steady breaths turned to gentle snores. She was gone to the world, but Loki couldn't leave. The routine had been simple thus far. Most nights, he'd stay until a reasonable hour and then depart. The few times he didn't, he was always gone as soon as she was ready for bed. Not that he wouldn't stay if she offered, but until and unless she did, he hadn't allowed himself to consider it.

She was just a human after all.

Just because he found her interesting, brilliant even, didn't mean he had any sort of feelings towards her.

It couldn't mean that.

It couldn't.

Yet, he was still there twenty minutes later. Watching the stars. Watching her. As if trapped in a black hole with no escape.

"I like you, too," he whispered.


	6. Convincer

"Sorry, pal, you just missed her."

Darcy had her headphones on, her glasses off, and her feet on the table. If she'd been napping before Loki came in, she hid it well. Her eyes weren't even puffy.

Loki looked around the lab. Erik was nowhere to be seen, but neither was Jane. "I see… then she accompanied Dr. Selvig this morning?"

Darcy snorted. "He wishes. Nah, she went to go do some Secret Agent Man stuff over at the crash site. I don't think she expects to get past the shady SHIELD dudes or whatever they're called, but since they've been coming after her research, I think she just-"

Her words turned to white noise. Garbled nonsense in Loki's ears, distracting him from the larger issue.

"Jane is infiltrating SHIELD," he breathed, "and you didn't think to stop her."

Darcy guffawed. "Stop Jane from waging a war in the name of science? Good joke, Luke. I needed a laugh today."

Loki ran down the alley where no one would see him. Finding Jane's location was easy, even in his panicked state. That he was panicking at all was a matter for another day. For now, he placed himself a quarter of a mile up the road from her truck. A black convertible spitting smoke would be prime bait for anyone, but it took standing in the middle of the road and waving his arms for Jane to connect his face with the man she'd spent weeks bouncing ideas off of.

"What the hell are you doing?" She stuck her red face out the window. Lucky for her, it was a calm, sunny day out with no wind.

"Can't even be bothered to come out and help a weary traveler in need," he quipped. It came harder than it should have. "Now I feel offended."

She threw the passenger's side door open, grumbling to herself as Loki climbed inside. His knees bumped the dashboard; his arms were stuck in an awkward position so he wouldn't elbow her in the face. How she could function in a space so tiny, even with her far slighter frame, he'd never know.

"I can't take you back into town right now," she said, hitting the gas and continuing her journey into the lion's den. "Your car will just have to wait."

"I'm sure it can manage." The illusion had already faded into nothingness.

"What are you even doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same question. Is it not a lovely day for a drive?"

"Cut the crap. You know where I'm going," she snapped. "Don't try to talk me out of it either."

Loki pursed his lips. "You know what a dangerous endeavor this will be."

"Hey, they want me under their thumb anyway. This is just me getting in on my own terms."

"And if you are caught?"

"That won't happen."

"How do you know?"

She stared straight ahead at the road.

The radio was on low, a static-y song going in and out as the tires rolled down a bumpy patch of gravel. Jane turned it to another station, then completely off. The engine groaned and ground with exertion. Had she ever pushed it so hard, he wondered.

"Nothing's keeping me down but gravity," she murmured.

"I don't think this is quite what your father meant."

"He wasn't the only one who taught me that." She slowed enough not to hit any stray rocks and finally looked at him. "I'm not as crazy as you think."

"I would never think that."

"You wouldn't be the first if you did," she said, her hands tightening on the wheel. "It's always been like this for me, a struggle. It's not even that I'm a woman surrounded by men. People have always look at me like a novelty. A joke. Not as someone they can take seriously. If it wasn't for Erik, I don't know where I'd be. Probably teaching Intro to Astrophysics at a community college somewhere."

"There must have been others who believed in you," Loki said.

Jane shook her head. "My mom tries, but she doesn't really get it. My dad would've bought me a parachute and chartered a jet if he thought skydiving would make me happy. But you know, I'm starting to think it's okay that I'm a joke. I know my theories are weird. I know what I'm proposing goes against conventional wisdom. My methods of experimentation go beyond unorthodox. If I were a different person watching myself, I'd think I was crazy, too. But you know what else I am, Luke?"

"What are you?" he asked.

Jane threw back her head, as glorious as a battle-hardened warrior. "I'm right."

They crossed the last few miles at a slower speed. Jane parked with the highest point of the base just peeking into view. Loki walked ahead of her, a double twelve steps behind them at all times, just in case of a sneak attack. If one came, he'd have to defend her, or else go and leave her to fend for herself. The latter would be the wisest choice. Surely the worst SHIELD could do is charge her with trespassing.

He stood at her side as they looked down at the white tunnels and caged off epicenter housing Mjolnir. Whatever happened next, he would be right there with her. Even if he didn't know why.

Such a strange and unnaturally persuasive woman.

Her phone rang, shattering the moment. Jane had it out of her pocket in seconds and groaned at Darcy's name on the call ID.

"I already told you, Darcy, I'm doing this no matter what you say."

Loki focused on the speaker, hearing Darcy perfectly as she munched on potato chips and watched TV.

"You don't have to yell at me. I know how to quit when I'm ahead."

"That's highly debatable."

"Well, screw you, too. I just wanted to see if you're okay. Believe it or not, I'm actually starting to care about you for more than just the credits."

Jane sighed, putting a hand on her head. "Okay, thanks. I'm fine. I just got to the site and I'm looking for a way in."

"You ever hear that old phrase, 'sometimes the way forward is the way back'?"

"Darcy."

"I'm just saying. Anyway, you're not going to believe what's on the news right now. Remember that guy we found during the storm? 'Thor' or whatever?"

Loki stepped closer.

"I think so," Jane said, perfectly unaware of his change in demeanor. "What about him?"

"Just listen to this."

She turned the TV all the way up until Loki didn't need magic to hear.

_'We're just now being told the John Doe escaped the facility sometime during the night between midnight and one o'clock. Reportedly, security footage shows three to four unknown individuals entering the building and aiding in his escape. Witnesses on the scene describe them as dressed in period clothes and carrying medieval-style weapons. While there have been no reported fatalities, several staff members were injured by the John Doe and his accomplices. You can see him pictured next to me right now. Citizens are warned not to approach or attempt to apprehend the suspects as they are considered armed and extremely dangerous.'_


	7. Predestination

There were two men at the entrance. Guns on their belt would not be quite as frightening to an intruder as their massive frames and intimidating countenances. One of them was a head higher than Thor, an impressive feat in and of itself.

_'Don't think about Thor,' _he told himself again. _'He will not come here. There's no way for him to travel so far in such a short amount of time.'_

Unless he or the Warriors Three figured out how to drive a car. Loki had watched Jane maneuver her vehicle several times and was confident he could do it himself if he tried.

And was the distance really so great that ten to twelve hours wasn't enough time?

With more pressing matters at hand, Loki banished all ideas of Thor disrupting the mission and exposing him to the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind.

Jane had ducked behind a rock, the only one of its size for miles and mediocre cover if the enemy spotted them. For the first time, Loki noted her clothing. Jeans and plaid as was her preferred wardrobe. Nothing resembling a weapon to be found. There wasn't even a pencil in her pocket.

"It'd be nice if we could sneak past the guards," she said.

"If they are intelligent, they will have all potential entrances guarded," said Loki.

"I'd love to not give them any credit, but…"

Folding her arms, Jane slid halfway to the ground against the boulder. Whatever grand plans she'd had for breaking in seemed to have fallen at her feet. While she pondered, Loki appraised the situation.

In addition to the guards, there were mounted lights on every corner. Motion detecting firearms were on standby, though not currently aimed in their direction. A man in the watchtower sharpened an arrow of all things and cast his eagle eye across the sand dunes. Loki made himself invisible to all but Jane. The archer's eye passed over him, though for a second, Loki thought he paused.

"Do you regret coming with me yet?"

Jane hadn't moved in a while, and he hadn't expected her to speak so soon.

"I never would," Loki said.

Jane gave a half-smile. "Yeah, but this is pretty far out from working as an analyst."

Loki tried to swallow. His throat was dry. "I suppose so."

Her eyes lingered on him, though he hoped the base was more interesting. If she had another question or comment to make, she kept it to herself.

"What if I just walk over and demand to see the man in charge?" she snorted.

"We could always enter by force," Loki said. "Your truck can surely withstand a few bullets."

"I should've brought my homemade missile launcher."

Their laughter died out fast. Neither of them was in the mood for jokes. Down in one of the black vans, a man rushed out with a phone in his ear. He said something to the guards as he hurried along. The larger man stepped away from his partner out of sight. Even with just one man on duty, the situation was grave. It didn't have to be, though. Loki could be in and out before the Midgardians knew what hit them. If Mjolnir accepted him (a voice in his head he didn't care to address sneered at the very idea), all he had to worry about was telling Jane the truth.

And so, he had everything to worry about.

_'Why am I here?' _he asked himself, as he should've so long ago when Thor landed on this rock. _'What has this gained me? She's just one woman.'_

_'Is she?' _that same voice replied.

Loki looked at her. He didn't want to, but he had to. There was something so beautiful about her. Not just her mind, as he once thought. It was everything. Her face, her mind, her perchance for eating too many kettle chips before dinner. One could mistake her for the Asgardian royal. She had a magic all her own.

"Whatever happens," she said, squaring her shoulders for action, "if we go down there and get caught or stay up here all night, I'm glad I got to meet you, Luke."

Loki's eye twitched. He never realized how much he hated that name. "Yes, Jane. So am I."

She was terrible for him. For his emotional state, for his self-control, and his awareness of his surroundings. The single presence behind them became three and drew closer. Two of them carried weapons. Jane still hadn't noticed them, all her focus on the base. She yelped when Loki pulled her back. His larger body shielded her as he turned to face the newcomers.

Only one was familiar. The man who had tried to relieve Jane of her life's work. He didn't have sunglasses today, which was strange. The sky was clear and the sun merciless. His men couldn't be very comfortable in those three-piece black suits.

Phil Coulson raised a hand, and they stopped. He smiled at Loki like a man concealing a knife.

"Good morning," he said. "Anything we can help you fine folks with?"

"Hell yeah, you can help us," Jane marched up to Coulson, unconcerned with the armed men on either side of him. "You can tell us who you think you are running around with your badges and fancy cars and thinking you have a right to take everything I've been working my whole life toward!"

"Jane," Loki tried to reach for her, but she wouldn't respond.

"Dr. Foster, as I've already told you, this matter is top secret and unrelated to your research."

"Bullshit. You wouldn't have come banging on my door if this wasn't related."

"And we were generous enough to leave you to your work. If you continue to interfere, I could take that generosity back."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'd consider it more of a warning."

"You have no right-"

"Jane, enough." Loki eyed the man on the right. He was the largest of the three men, obstinately the strongest, and as the argument intensified, his hand slid closer to his holstered pistol. "There's nothing more we can do here."

"Are you kidding me?" Jane shouted. "I'm not going anywhere. Not when we've come this far."

"Doctor, for your own safety, I'd advise you to listen to your friend."

"No one asked you!"

She pulled at Loki's hand. He held on and dragged her back as carefully as he could. Jane made one last attempt to get free, all her strength going into a single wrench. The recoil sent her flying, and she nearly smacked Coulson in the face.

"Hey!" The larger man grabbed his gun.

A blast of magic sent him flying. He hit the ground some fifty feet away, moaning in agony. All things considered, Loki had been gentle. Not even a fraction of the power his rage demanded had gone into that attack.

Many years later, he'd commend SHIELD for their quick, coordinated response. Within seconds, the man's partner drew his weapon. Coulson pulled a gun seemingly out of the air. Down below, twenty more men raced onto the scene, alarms blaring at their backs, summoning all troops to the front line. Even the archer had an arrow ready to fire.

Loki held Jane to his chest, staring down the enemy ready to march into battle on his own.

Of course, it was Jane who summed it all up perfectly. "What the fuck?"

Coulson took a step. "Sir, please stand down."

A chuckle. "Stand down? I'm not the one aiming to kill."

"Nobody wants to hurt you or Dr. Foster."

"I beg to differ."

"Why don't we talk about this more inside?" Coulson nodded at the men behind them, who broke formation to create a path down the hill. "I think that'll be better for everyone."

"Better for you," Loki growled. "Agent Coulson, rest assured there is not a cell on this planet which can hold me. I would advise you to consider your next move carefully."

His magic flared. The agents tensed but didn't fire. That was good for them. If they had, it would not have been Loki who fell.

"You're not in a position to give threats," Coulson said, glancing at the green fire in Loki's hand with only a hint of discomfort. "Or are you?"

One plus to this mess, his concentration was back at full capacity. He heard the sputtering engine long before Coulson's most cognizant agents lifted their heads to listen. A truck tore down the road, approaching at well over a hundred miles an hour. The horn roared again and again, a boisterous laugh following each blast.

_'Wonderful,'_ Loki thought. _'Just wonderful.'_

The agents were now torn. Half turned to the truck while the rest stayed in place. Coulson was among the latter, his eyes never leaving Loki's.

"Friends of yours?"

Loki clicked his tongue. "In a manner of speaking."

The truck stopped hard enough to almost tip over. Tires screeched. A sword-wielding arm stuck out the window. All the doors flew open as a haggard man in white scrubs stumbled out.

"Loki!" Thor bellowed. Sif was already at his side, glaring Loki down.

"Hello brother," he said, wincing at Jane's strangled gasp. "I'm happy to see you again."

It was always meant to be, he supposed. From the very beginning, he knew one day he would face his brother on opposing sides. Whatever the occurrence on Jotunheim meant, the distance between them had grown over centuries. It wasn't a truth Loki admitted easily. Indeed, his heart hurt. In so many ways, it hurt. Never had deception felt so empty.

If nothing else, Thor had learned civility. When the agents formed a barrier between him and Loki, Thor demanded they let him pass rather than tossing them aside without a thought. As the Warriors Three gathered, proving to be by far the clearer threat, Coulson was forced to enter the fray and defuse the tension. His men stayed behind, keeping Loki always in their sights. Dozens of eyes on him, scrutinizing, challenging, waiting for a reason to fire, and yet all of them paled in comparison to Jane's searching gaze.

"Luke," she said. There was no anger like he feared, only wonder. No betrayal, just boundless curiosity. "No… Loki."

He somehow managed to smile. "I'm afraid I haven't been honest with you."

The ever-changing myriad of emotion spreading across her face gave way to a tiny laugh, then a full grin. "You know what? I think I knew."

She buried her face in his shirt, hugging him with all she had. Their captors waited and watched. Thor peered over Coulson's head, studying the pair as if deciding whether Jane was a pawn in Loki's mechanisms or another threat. Loki tightened his hold on her, no longer fighting the overwhelming urge to touch her.

"What's down in that base," he whispered in Jane's ear, "is nowhere near as amazing as what's up there."

The sky opened far over their heads, offering so much promise. Jane raised her head to it but stared straight at Loki.

"Fuck it," she muttered, with the conviction of someone who had thrown all caution to the wind. "Let's do it."

"Are you sure?"

It wasn't a question he needed to ask. Everything he needed was right in front of him.

He allowed himself a moment to give in to desire, pressing his lips to Jane's and savoring her sweet taste. Her hands on his face were soft and warm, and so perfect.

Loki and Jane did not see the SHIELD agents whispering among themselves. They didn't hear a man wolf whistle and another one shush him. They didn't see Thor's bemused reaction to their display, or Coulson's jaw hitting the floor as he failed to come with a good response.

When they vanished, they didn't feel the bullets impulsively fired where they once stood. They didn't hear Thor scream Loki's name to the heavens.

And even if they did, it wouldn't have mattered. Because none of it could stop them. Nothing could stop them.

Not even gravity.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed!**


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